Grim Lovelies by Megan Sheperd REVIEW

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Started: 13/08/19

Finished: 19/08/19

Spoilers: Yes.

This was an okay read for me, but nothing more really. I own the book but chose to listen to the audiobook in a bid to get through my physical TBR quicker. I’m partially glad I chose to listen to it because I’m not sure I would have continued the book were I reading it.

I’ll start off with something positive. The cover art is gorgeous and pretty much the reason I bought this. (Gotta stop cover buying).

Characters Too many of the characters were too black or white. The good guys were super moral and righteous and the bad guys were evil for the sake of it, bad guys for no real reason other than the fact that they’re the bad guys. The only two characters I actually liked were Viggo and Hunter Black. Why? Because they were the only two characters that were morally grey. Everyone else was either too good or too bad.

There was nothing special about Anouk, despite what everyone in this book tries to tell us. Nothing to set her apart from any other YA heroine. Meek and downtrodden and then suddenly out of nowhere she discovers she has this great power. Not only that, but she’s more powerful than anyone else, destined for greatness and coveted by the evil, brooding prince. *eye roll*

Then there’s the weak cast of cliché side characters. We have the wishy-washy jealous love interest, the sarcastic best friend, the sweet and wise ‘brother-like’ character, a gay male that simply had to die because YA , and then a bunch of goblins in monocles and bowler hats. They’re from London, of course, they wear monocles and bowler hats. *double eye roll*

And naturally, the characters don’t communicate so things get misconstrued. I mean Beau was so mature, right, when he saw Anouk give Viggo a pity kiss and then raged off to shove his tongue down a goblin’s throat. This wouldn’t be YA if there wasn’t a misunderstood kissing scene!

The antagonists, various witches and a royal family of the supernatural world, seem to be evil, but it’s almost pantomime villain-esque. There’d be some serious moustache twitching here if any of them had one. I kinda wasn’t convinced by it. Tell me again why they were being evil and stuff? Cause that part was lost on me. And why did the prince want to make Anouk his evil princess? I zoned out a little for a moment.

Like I said before, I enjoyed Viggo as a character because at a glance he seemed like the more complex of this cast. He was spiteful and vindictive, selfish and proud and generally for most of the book he was a dick to everyone and just wanted to shit all over everything. But he was interesting because of these traits, not despite them. By the end of the novel he’d done a complete 180 and suddenly started to give a shit about everyone other than himself. Seemed really out of character for him. That was round about the time I started to lose interest in him.

Character growth is one thing. Personality transplant is another entirely.

Plot The thing is, it all sounds like a very fun and unique idea for a story, right? But there was something severely lacking here. Something sort of flimsy and loose about it; it didn’t quite all connect.

For a rather large chunk of this book, I just didn’t really care. It was a whole lot of Anouk asking questions, but never really going to look for answers. She didn’t exactly go looking for the adventure she yearned for but rather waited until it was thrust upon her so forcefully she literally had no choice but to take up the call.

Naturally, this wouldn’t be YA without a fancy make-over scene. Because, of course, the MC has to look gorgeous when she’s running for her life, y’kidding, right? How else will she attract the attention of the evil brooding prince? The whole section where they’re on the run bored me a little, but when things appeared to develop into a potential heist story, I sat up and paid attention. I love a good heist so maybe this was the turn I needed to story to take to love it.

After limited planning, the heist was basically over and done within the space of about three chapters, and it was all too easy and convenient for my tastes. They got into the palace to easily. Got into the library too quickly. Got the spell almost immediately and that was that. Sure I know shit hit the fan afterwards, but it felt like we building up to some great and colourful fireworks, and all we got was a damp squib.

Setting I did like that it was set in Paris, just would’ve been nice if we, I dunno, actually got to see Paris. The city itself isn’t described at all, which makes it pretty damn hard to visualise. I had to wok my imagination overtime on this one, and the only reason I was able to imagine Paris in any justice to its glory at all is because I’ve been there in person and I’ve seen it. It’s a beautiful city and it deserves more than what this book gave it. Such a wasted opportunity for such a culturally vibrant and rich setting.

Other than a vague and fleeting mention of the metro and the catacombs, and the fact the Anouk ate a croissant once, there was little else to depicted this as a Parisian setting. This could have been any city in any country in the world. What a waste.

Descriptions weren’t quite so threadbare where the supernatural world was considered. It was indeed described in much finer detail, such as the lavender gardens at Mada Zola’s or the goblin parties on the fourth floor. Credit where it’s due, I had a much better time visualising the more fantasy-based settings as more attention to detail had been given. And the descriptions weren’t bad either, they were clear, creative and I could picture it. I just can’t help but think if the same attention had been paid to Paris itself, we would have had well-rounded setting.

Descriptions aside, I was rather confused as to the history and origin of this supernatural world. Who is this random evil royal family and who the hell put them in charge? What are the rules of this other world and magical society that live within it? What are the limitations and restrictions? What is the price of power?

Unfortunately, though well painted in my mind, everything about this world is only surface level. The second I tried to look deeper, I came up empty.

Writing Style If I’m being brutally honest, it was probably the writing that put me off this book. I felt disconnected from the story throughout, never really caring about the characters or the stakes.

This is a YA book, yet it reads like a Middle Grade. There’s something really juvenile about the way it’s written and the characterization. It wasn’t badly written, don’t get me wrong, but I think I was simply after something a little bit darker and a bit more sinister, and this felt suspiciously PG13.

For instance, during the big battle towards the end, when the goblins are fighting soldiers made of sticks, it all felt very Disney to me - like the battle was meant to be fun. I think this is probably just me, as I know the battle wasn’t written to be fun and light-hearted. People died. It’s serious business. But for some reason, it came across in my head as something very un-violent and not to be taken too seriously.

The writing style in general and the formulaic structure of the plot feels very ‘classic YA’ if you know what I mean. Like something from the mid 2000’s back when standards weren’t so high. I think back then, this book would have done great, but nowadays, people are looking for just a little bit more than the same old tropes and the same old formula.

(I’ll stick this here because it doesn’t really fit anywhere else.) I hate to say it, I really do, but the audio narration was terrible. The woman reading it was so choppy and clunky. She sounded more like a newsreader. Just her tone and inflexion alone made it sound awkward and wooden. This perhaps also affected my enjoyment of it as the narrator would phrase something in a particularly robotic manner and it would pull me out the story completely - not that I was ever that invested, tbh. But if you want to read this book, I wouldn’t recommend the audiobook.

Final Impression As I said at the start, it was okay. Wasn’t terrible, but wasn’t great either. Grim Lovelies should have been magical and whimsical with undertones of dark and sinister, but it felt far too shallow and clean-cut for me, unfortunately.

The YA genre is saturated right now and some of the competition is hot. With so many intricate and complex stories out there, this one simply can’t quite compete.